Understanding Common Engineering Blunders & How to Prevent Them

Operating in the engineering industry, it is common to make mistakes. These mistakes can have a serious impact on your business model and your ability to make a profit. Unnecessary blunders can drive up costs, irritate clients and generally cause upset in your business model. Some mistakes could even lead to your company developing a poor reputation on the market that you ultimately, will not be able to recover from. Word of mouth will spread that you aren’t delivering the expert solution that clients had hoped for or indeed expected. So, what type of mistakes are we talking about here?

Taking on Unattainable Projects

It’s tempting and potentially understandable to want to stretch your engineering business model as far as you can. Ultimately, if you can take on more projects then you can make more money with greater access to a wide client pool. The problem here is that engineering is an industry based entirely around skills. If you don’t have the skills necessary or your team is underqualified then all that’s going to happen is that you will deliver a poor solution and this will damage the impression clients have of your business. You need to make sure that you instead focus on areas where you do excel.

Or, alternatively, you can work to develop the skills that you need to complete these new services and jobs the right way. If you want to take on more jobs, then you also need to make sure that you do develop your skills and grow at the same time. You can’t simply hope to learn by doing because this will lead to poor service.

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Failing to Keep Safety in Mind

It’s worth noting that many engineering jobs will involve some level of danger. You need to make sure that you understand any danger that could be present and how to mitigate the issue here. Ultimately, you need to think about what the potential hazard is and how to prevent it. You need to think about your safety, the safety of other team members and anyone else in the environment. A classic example would be ensuring that the electric lines are turned off before repairing wiring. This is a common mistake and it’s often the case that the accident occurs when someone turns the electric back on. As well as being potentially liable for any incidents, you could ultimately find that you injure yourself or someone else.

Make sure you research, review and understand the dangers of any job before you move forward with a project. You can then put the right safety measures in place to ensure that you, your team and anyone else in the environment are protected. A well-prepared engineer is the reason why talent is at the forefront of the gig economy.

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Failing to Prepare

Of course, it’s not just about making sure that you are prepared for the potential dangers. You also need to make sure that you have the right tools in place as well. It’s important that you do think about the type of equipment that you need for any job that you take on. It’s quite common for there to be long delays on a project if the right tools are not chosen and taken to the job site.

Whether you are hiring equipment or using your own, you need to make sure that you are using the latest options available on the market. Using tools that are out of date can lead to everything from delays to mistakes due to faulty measurement and readings. It’s worth investing a little extra to ensure that your team is fully equipped and ready to handle any challenge that they may encounter on the job.

Failing to be Precise

You do need to be precise when handling any job while working as an engineer. It’s important that you don’t end up in a situation where you are spending hours on the job and in reality providing a solution that is not relevant or needed. The best way to avoid this is to make sure that you are asking questions and that you understand exactly what the client wants. Consider everything from the system to the structure and the device that you are working on. Don’t assume you know everything and remember that engineering is always going to be a collaborative process. You will always need a high level of information to ensure that you provide the best solution.

Missing Small Details

If there are small issues in the job, you can guarantee they are only going to grow. We mean this both figuratively and literally. It’s important to understand the small details of a job and ensure that they do not lead to total failure or a significant error. Small mistakes can occur anywhere in the job process. For instance, you might fail to return a phone call. That phone call could have included crucial information that you needed to complete a job the right way. Or, it’s possible that it was a physical detail missed when completing a specific task. The bottom line here is that it pays to remain attentive as an engineer.

No Communication  

A lack of communication is another mistake that you can make when handling an engineering job. If you’re not communicating then you are going to struggle to complete a job the right way. You need to make sure that engineers and the people that they work for have a good discourse to maintain high levels of efficiency and guarantee that jobs are completed on time. These days, tech can help ensure that everyone is on the same page and do remain completely connected. This also ensures that any issues can be highlighted and immediately corrected.

We hope this helps you understand some of the issues that you can encounter when you are running your engineering business or working independently. Be aware that it’s not just novice engineers that make these mistakes. Seasoned professionals are also at risk of falling into these traps so it’s always worth keeping problems like this in mind. That way you can make sure you have the right solution in place.

Discover what Engineers should expect from the global future of engineering to prevent additional mistakes.

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